


That's weird.

by Spaghetti4U



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Slow Burn, Unlucky Hajime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-31 23:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15129830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaghetti4U/pseuds/Spaghetti4U
Summary: Komaeda is really an enigma to Hinata. After all this time spent on this island he doesn't seem to understand him in the slightest. That's why Hajime is curious, he wants to know more about the Ultimate Lucky Student. But today, curiosity is mixed with something else. Something annoying that makes Hinata want to have his whole attention.





	That's weird.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone ! Another Hikoma one-shot ! I had this idea on Twitter when someone mentionned that we often see content where Komaeda tries to catch Hinata's attention but never the opposite. This was such a great idea I couldn't resist at all.  
> I don't post so often but I actually have some projects. I am working on them ! 
> 
> I'd like to warn you there are very brief mentions of panick crises and social anxiety in this fic, nothing major at all, but if you are really uncomfortable with those themes this is better to be warned. 
> 
> Special excuse to Soda who seems really dumb here, but I needed him to be this way. I love you Soda, please forgive me.
> 
> PS : Any major misinterpretation of Komaeda's behavior is voluntary since I'm following Hinata's point of view.

Now that was weird.

  
It seemed that Komaeda had been avoiding him all day.

Well, rather than avoiding, it was as if he didn't get his attention at all.  
Hinata wasn't craving for the other's constant approbation, for sure, but usually Komaeda would observe Hinata more or less discreetly during the day or at least react to what he was saying. And when he was offering to hang out with him they would have a good time, so he probably didn't hate him, at least that was what Hinata thought.

But today was as if Komaeda didn't notice his presence at all.

  
They saw each other at the restaurant, a little after the morning announcement, and barely greeted each other before Sonia started a conversation with him. That was usual, though, he wouldn't often eat breakfast with Komaeda, since most of his classmates would find something _utterly interesting_ and obviously urgent to tell him while he was still half asleep. Not to mention that the SHSL Lucky Student was kind of a loner, thus eating most of the time alone. So, it wasn't weird for Komaeda to eat silently, away from the rest of the group. When he could Hinata tried to talk to him, even just few words. He knew all too well that Komaeda couldn't be trusted, but the feeling of guilt was a little too painful to handle each time he saw the other boy alone. After all, loner or not, they were all responsible somehow of his isolation.  
That was his main reason to spend time with him in the first place. That and the fact he wanted to understand him. Well, maybe mostly the second one. Despite everything, he was still not able to understand Komaeda in the slightest, and that was annoying because, clearly, he wasn't trying to harm the others… whatever he wanted to do.

  
Strangly enough, today was one of the days he wanted to spend with him. Today was one of the days where he was _curious_ , where he wanted to learn more about the Ultimate Lucky Student. That happened sometimes.

But today was also different. For once he didn't want to be the one inviting him. Hinata wanted him to come to him, and not the opposite.  
Of course, he knew that would never happen. Komaeda never made the first move, unless they were investigating some morbid case. And it was quite selfish to hope the other boy would just ask him when Hinata knew about his insecurities towards relationships, but then again, he couldn't stop himself from imagining the white-haired boy, slowly coming to him, asking if it was okay to hang out. That thought was enough to send a spark down Hinata's spine. He would be pretty excited, to be frank, if he did that. Being wanted to hang out with would be new, for once he would be the desired company, not the opposite. But he couldn't just wait for that to happen, not when Komaeda was still asking, each time they were alone, why he chose to be with him and not anyone else.

  
Hinata sighted. He was in his cottage now, a little after nighttime, lying on his bed, fixing the ceiling as he was trying to recall his day. Where did it go wrong ?  
  
  
First he woke up, normally, after a more or less decent night, and got ready before going to the restaurant. That was where he was captured by Sonia. He remembered he saw Komaeda at the very moment he entered the room, that was probably when he had decided he wanted to hang out with him.  
Then everything had started to accelerate.

He wasn't really paying attention to what Sonia was saying, sometimes humming to make her believe he was still listening. Instead his mind had been focused on this strange desire of wanting to hang out with Komaeda, but being the one invited to. As the other wasn't sparing a glare to him, focused on his toast, Hinata thought about how to get his attention. Staring was obviously not working, and, to be honest, he was glad that Sonia was so caught up with her own words that she didn't notice either. That would have been ridiculously hard to explain, and a way too embarrassing.

  
That was Hinata's first failed attempt to get Komeada's attention today.

  
Maybe go sit next to him and start a random conversation would work ? He would do that, but he couldn't leave Sonia here... And Komaeda was almost done with his breakfast, soon he would fly away, doing whatever he was doing when they weren't together.

  
Sooner than Hinata expected, Komaeda silently stood up, picking up the few dishes he had, before exiting the restaurant without a word.  
Hinata quickly apologized to Sonia before following him. He had to do something, right ? He couldn't just leave this opportunity to ask him.  
When he went down the stairs he could still see the green jacket, few meters away. Good, he wasn't gone already. Hinata sighted in relief.  
"Komaeda!"  
The other froze a little before turning around, greeting Hinata with a soft smile. As surprising as it was, Hinata couldn't hold back a little smile himself when he saw the warmth radiating from Komaeda's face. Was it weird to be relieved because of that ?  
"What is it Hinata-kun ?"  
...Hah, crap, of course, he hadn't think of what to say yet.  
He had two options now. First, ask him to hang out, and only half of his day would feel complete, or...  
He could try to drop hints hoping the other would catch them.  
"Ah... Hum... I just...", he swallowed, how to bring the subject smoothly ? Hinata frowned.  
"You like going to the Library don't you..?", he couldn’t stop himself from looking away, then to Komaeda again, as if he had said something bad.  
The green-grey eyes widened a little.  
"Well, yes, I do, I'm surprised you noticed something this insignificant about someone like me...", he looked away, still softly smiling.  
Hinata decided to ignore the self-depreciating comment. He stepped closer, to make the conversation less awkward.  
"Going there ?"  
"Hmm, I was thinking about reading at the beach, actually. I picked up some books at the library yesterday and -oh, not that you would be interested in my li-"  
"Sooo, that means you'd rather be alone, right ?" his voice was so high-peached it was a little ridiculous. Hopefully he would catch his drift with that.  
Instead Komaeda was looking at him, showing no emotion at all.  
"Yes, it's harder to focus on reading when someone else is around."  
Hinata felt his heart sting. His tone was so factual that it hurt. He started to bite his lips. He didn't know if Komaeda had utterly rejected the basic idea of spending time with him or if he didn't catch his meaning _at all_. Either way, Hinata knew this battle was a lost one.

  
"Are we done talking..?" Komaeda said softly, almost whispering, visibly confused. Hinata jolted in answer, adding soon after :  
"Y-yes of course ! Sorry I took your time..!"  
He was sure Komaeda was about to protest but he was already going away, more frustrated than embarrassed by his second failed attempt to get Komaeda's attention today.

* * *

  
Hinata hadn't given up yet.

  
After some minutes spent wandering around, waiting for a plan to come to him, he spotted Soda, eating some snacks, at the entrance of RocketPunch.  
That was when he got an idea. A cool, great idea.  
Almost running towards him, he started shouting the other boy’s name, hand waving.  
The gesture seemed to surprise the pink-haired boy as he almost dropped what he was eating, jumping.  
"H-Hinata !" he swallowed loudly his snacks, "What's up, man ?"  
Hinata stopped his track, smiling, "Wanna hang out?"  
The answer barely waited : "Wow, sure, I don't have anything to do, let's do that !", he brought his hands to his hips, showing his excitement.  
"Sure, let's go to the beach then !"  
"Sure thing, man.", a toothy grin was accompanying a cheerful tone.

  
As they were walking towards their destination, Hinata couldn't refrain a little excited smile to show up on his face. Luckily, Soda was too oblivious to notice. If everything went according to plan, they would do anything at the beach, while Komaeda was there. Hopefully he would notice. And maybe, just maybe, that would be sufficient to make him want to spend time with him.  
Now that he was really thinking about that it felt stupid. Desperate even. The kind of plan a child would make to make his friend jealous.  
But it was too late, they were already heading towards the beach, and if Komaeda asked, he would just have to say that Soda wanted to go there.  
Great. Actually, maybe that could work.

  
He was brought back to reality when he heard Soda interjecting loudly.  
"So, we are here, what do we do now?"  
"Let's... split a watermelon ?", he absently replied, looking around. When he spotted Komaeda, resting under a tree, reading, his heart stopped. So he was really here. They were both really here. Hinata felt his cheeks heating up a little.  
  
Splitting a watermelon was actually a good idea. It allowed them to still be close to Komaeda without being suspicious, and Soda was distracted enough to not notice Hinata glancing at the other boy from time to time.  
Komaeda never moved his gaze from his book, not once. Hinata couldn't tell what he was reading from that distance, but judging by his eyebrows, oscillating between being upturned and frowning, and his mouth slightly opening now and then, it must have been interesting. Hinata almost snorted at the sight of Komaeda, so focused on something that wasn't investigation. It was a little cute, to be honest. Hinata would lie if he said it wasn't endearing to the Ultimate Lucky Student genuinely enjoying himself so much.  
That made him only wanting to spend the day with him more.

He noticed he had been staring too much when Soda's voice was heard again.  
"Hinata?", he looked tense, and his gaze followed his. Immediately the soft smile Hinata wasn't even aware of vanished.  
Soda stepped closer, resting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, still looking at Komaeda.  
"You think he is planning something..?" his voice was filled with suspicion and fear.  
Hinata almost choked, dazzled by the relief of not having been found out, and the outrage he felt at the idea of Soda suspecting Komaeda of plotting something while he was, for once, so peaceful.  
He was feeling a little sick.  
"W-what..? No, he is just reading."  
Soda hummed, eyes still focused and Komaeda.  
"Riiight. Let's not bother with him. C'mon! We have a watermelon to pick up !!" his cheerful demeanor came back, before he turned away gathering the pieces of watermelon.

  
It wasn't new that Soda didn't like Komaeda, he was scared of him, like many others on this island. Hinata couldn't blame them for that, not after all he had done. But he couldn't just pretend Komaeda didn't exist either. And, when he saw him like that, resting, calm, under the shade of that tree, he thought that maybe they were just overreacting a bit.  
With a soft smile, tainted by some spark of guilt, he helped Soda.  
During the whole exchange Komaeda didn't look away from his book, smiling softly.  
  
They gathered their stuff and left the beach before Komaeda. Hinata had fun this morning with Soda, but he knew it also meant that it was his third failed attempt to get Komaeda's attention today.

* * *

  
He was eating lunch with Nanami.

Komaeda had still not came back yet. Hinata vaguely wondered if he was too focused on his reading that he didn't see time fly. Maybe he could bring him some lunch at the beach ?  That could be a good excuse to spend the afternoon with him. They would eat together, but seeing that it was already this late they would just stay at the beach talking about whatever for the rest of the day. Hinata smiled, standing up a little, without even being aware of it.  
Yes, he would do that, Komaeda  would probably be happy to know someone thought about him.  
  
"Ah Komaeda-kun, hello." Nanami's sleepy voice was enough to make him realize that his plans were ruined before even starting. Looking up, Hinata saw Komaeda politely greeting Nanami back, before grabbing something to eat.  
A bubble of frustration started to grow inside Hinata's stomach as he almost let his face slap against the table.

The fourth attempt to get Komaeda's attention today had failed as soon as it was born.

  
He found nothing else while he was eating. No idea, no plan. The bubble of frustration slowly started to get bigger.  
  
"Are you okay ?"  
"Huh?" Hinata moved his gaze towards the voice’s owner: Nanami.  
"You have been munching your chopsticks for two minutes now, I was wondering if you were okay.", her voice was calm, as always.  
"Ah..." Hinata realized he was, indeed, mistreating his chopsticks.  
"I'm fine. Just tired." The boredom in his voice was all too obvious.  
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."  
Hinata rested his head on his hand, absently said:  
"Hey Nanami, how do you get someone else's attention?"

  
She was silent for a moment, before titling her head.  
"You mean Komaeda-kun's?"  
Hinata eyes widened suddenly, head falling from his hand. He had stopped breathing. How did she know ? Was it that obvious ? Had others noticed ?!  
"You have been staring at him for the whole lunch. Oh, don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed." she nodded.  
... Was she a psychic..? Hinata swallowed, more worried now by the new capacity of Nanami he discovered today than the fact that someone else could have noticed.  
"Why do you want it though?" Hinata froze. He almost squeaked:  
"I... huh... don't know..?" Hinata felt his blood rushing towards his head. He was probably redder than he ever was. He didn't want to admit he wanted to be invited to hang out, that was so stupid he thought even Nanami would laugh. But saying he didn't know why he wanted it was... even worse. He cursed every part of his body to have asked this question in the first place.  
"I think just going for it is the best way to get someone else's attention." her voice was factual, a finger rose, as if she wanted to comfort Hinata.  
"If you want Komaeada-kun to notice you... my experience tells me it's the best if you directly come to him and ask what you want."  
"Your... experience?" Hinata couldn't believe Nanami had done that before. Or maybe she was used to giving advices ?  
"Yes, through dating sims."  
Hinata choked for the almost fifth time today.  
"D-dating sims ? Are you comparing my situation to some cheesy romance story?"  
Nanami pouted.  
"Not all dating sims are "cheesy" Hinata-kun."  
"S-still?!" came out as a strangled noise.  
"And yes, you are basically the MC looking for a good opportunity to get closer to their love interest right now." She hummed as her eyes started to sparkle. "This is quite exciting!"  
"No. No. Not at all." Hinata dryly waved his hands to deny everything.  
"Then why are you blushing?"  
"B-because, what you are saying is embarrassing?". He didn't know Nanami could be so mischievous. Or was it a genuine question? That made the thing even more embarrassing.  
Nanami hummed, bringing her eyes back on her GameGirl.  
  
They stayed like this, silently sitting in front of each other for some time before Hinata became bored of thinking about nothing, and started :  
"So, wanna do something?"  
"Shouldn't you ask that to Komaeda-kun? Or are you practicing with me?"  
"Wha- I'm not practicing anything. I could ask... if I wanted to."  
Nanami titled her head again, this time in confusion.  
"Then you don't want to get his attention after all?"  
Hinata sighted, putting both hands on the table as if it would make his point clearer. He closed his eyes, sensing the back of his mind starting to hurt after so much time spent trying to organize his thoughts today.  
"I do, the thing is, I don't want to have it this way."  
"That sounds rather capricious Hinata-kun."  
"M-maybe. I know this is ridiculous. That why we could hang out, I need to get that stupid idea out of my mind."  
"Sure. What do you want to do?"  
Hinata rested his head in his arms, tired.  
"Frankly, anything’s fine."  
"Then why not going to the Park?"  
"Seems okay.”  
Soon, they were leaving the now-empty restaurant, heading towards the park.  
"So, wanna do something there or..?”  
"I have some ideas."  
Hinata smiled a bit, at least he would enjoy his afternoon, and that may be enough to distract him.

  
When they arrived the park was calm, as usual. Nanami was taking the lead heading towards a tree. She sat in the middle of the grass, resting against the trunk.  
"So. What are we doing?" Hinata was crossing his arms, expectant.  
Nanami simply yawned as an answer.  
"Hey don't tell me you brought me here to sleep ?"  
Seeing no answer was offered, except a sleepy humming, Hinata sighted, sitting next to the girl.  
"You could have said so." Despite the annoyance in his tone he had to admit this was a little amusing.  
Hinata wasn't fond of sleeping on the outside, and he'd rather do something fun, but he could still appreciate the scenery of the park, he guessed. At least Nanami was enjoying herself. Maybe letting his mind wander to mere thoughts wouldn't be that bad. That would, at least, be relaxing.  
His breath slowly became steadier as he started to scrutinize his surroundings, as if he were truly seeing them for the first time. The sky was so blue, more than he could never imagine, and the sun was piercing through the foliage of the trees, spreading a warm, soft light all over the place. It wasn't too hot thanks to the shadows of the vegetation which kept the ground fresh. Slowly he moved his gaze towards the park itself, full of colorful plants, disposed all around the main plaza, where a giant statue was standing. He seemed to him as if he had seen the statue often enough to perfectly picture it in his head. He was sure if he closed his eyes he could retrace every single details of this imposing work. Around the plaza were some benches, usually people would rather sit on them, but Hinata had to admit the grass was a better choice for sleeping.  
He was getting tired too. Maybe he could sleep with Nanami. Nothing would happen, right? Not when the day seemed so peaceful. And yet, a light anxiety was starting to form somewhere in his mind. He was standing there, where it all began, where they saw Monokuma for the first time, when he announced the beginning of the killing game, where he met the end of his past life.  
What if someone was being murdered at this very moment?  
No, no, no, there was no way this could happen, not again, he was just being paranoid, which was pretty fair, given the circumstances of their stay on this island. The awareness rose from these thoughts was enough to tear him away from his sleepiness.  
Everything was cut by a movement nearby, on one of the benches. He couldn't believe he had been scanning the park so absently minded that he hadn't noticed it sooner. If he turned his head, he could see someone sitting on a bench.  
Not just someone.  
  
Hinata stopped breathing.  
It was Komaeda.  
  
He was reading a book, from what he could tell, it was different from the one this morning.  
Wait, what was he doing here anyway? Not that he couldn't be here, but had he just arrived? Or was he there the whole time and he didn't notice until now? Did Nanami see him?  
His mind froze.  
Nanami.  
He turned around to look at the girl next to him.  
Did she plan that? Did she know Komaeda would be there? How...?  
"Hey Nanami." he started to whisper, to not bring the other’s attention, that, being be the worst timing of the day.  
"Nanami..?"  
Crap. Was she already asleep? Or just pretending to? He wouldn't want to wake her up for only that though.  
Well, knowing Nanami, she could have planned that. Or it could be a coincidence. Anyways, Nanami, or some divine forces was giving him the opportunity to go talk to Komaeda. For once today he could temporarily leave the person he was with to go talk to him without being suspicious or extremely rude. He turned his head towards the white-haired boy again, frowning. Maybe he could do that? If that went well they could make plans for the evening, or tomorrow?  
Why not after all. Komaeda was here, alone. So was he, more or less. He could just go there, talk to him, smoothly bring the subject of the evening, finding something to hype up Komaeda a little, and hopefully he would just ask. And if not, it wouldn't be too late for Hinata to do so.  
Yes, that definitely was a good opportunity. He couldn't miss this one.  
He silently promised himself to succeed this time, before standing up.  
He softly rubbed his clothes to move the blade of grass off his pants and headed towards the other boy.

  
As he was about to call out his name, another voice, stronger cut him in the process.  
"Ah there you are Komaeda. We need you."  
Hinata stopped to look at the voice's owner. It was Kuzuryuu, who looked annoyed, more than usual.  
Komaeda rose his head, it didn’t appear that he had noticed Hinata standing few meters behind him, maybe Kuzuryuu did, but he didn't seem to care.  
"You need me? What could possibely make you think that..?" he chuckled softly. Hinata froze when he heard Komaeda’s voice. That was almost weird to hear him right now, after this much time without interacting with each other.  
"Look." the short boy sighted, visibly exasperated, "I'm going to be clear: this is quite dumb. The thing is, Sonia found an awful spider on her cottage, she tried to make it go away by putting it in a box and releasing it into the wild, you see.", his tone didn't hide his irritation.  
Komaeda was probably looking at him, captivated by the story.  
"But she messed up, and three identical boxes, don't ask me how, ended up on the floor, one of them containing the spider." he made a pause, as if he wanted to be sure that what he was saying even made sense.  
"That made some noise, and of course, alerted Soda who thought she got hurt. When she explained it to us what was happening he, of course, started to freak out. He started rambling about how Princesses shouldn't be in contact with "awful creatures" and stuff, and started to look for a solution."  
He sighted once again.  
"To be honest I just told them I could take a look at the boxes, I mean, I won't be afraid of some spider. But, I don't know how and when, they decided it would be best if you picked up the box in which you thought the spider was in."  
Kuzuryuu seemed to notice Komaeda was giving a strange look (even if Hinata couldn't see it, he could imagine it.), and he added :  
"Don't get me wrong, you don't have to literally pick up the box, just to show it to them, and I'll handle the rest."  
Komaeda was silent.  
"Yeah, I know, that's stupid, but they won't change their mind so..." he crossed his arms.  
"I would be more than happy to help Ultimates but I don't know if I can do that..."  
"C'mon it's just looking at random boxes, even if it's not the right one, they would still be satisfied, so please, help me with this, they won't shut up and I don't want to keep rambling about a spider all day."  
Komaeda seemed hesitant.  
"Well, if it can help you." He reluctantly stood up, and started to follow Kuzuryuu who was already walking down the same path he had used to come.  
Soon Komaeda was out of sight.  
Of course, Hinata had kept quiet during the whole exchange. Be seen wouldn't have been the best, explaining why he was stalking their conversation from behind would be quite delicate, and he was too intrigued by what the yakuza was saying that he temporarily forgot his situation.  
But now he was alone, again.

That was how his fifth attempt in a row to get Komaeda's attention today had failed.

  
He sighted, almost depressed by his lack of success. Soon, this feeling would be replaced by more frustration, he knew that.  
But what could he have done? It's not as if he could have just told Kuzuryuu that Komaeda had to spend his time with him, which was wrong anyway.  
Half-heartedly, he went back to his old spot, and stared into the void until Nanami woke up.

* * *

  
It was probably around six when she woke up, Hinata may have slept too, since he didn't recall spending hours doing nothing, then again, he wasn't even sure the whole day wasn't just a big dream with how surreal everything felt.  
After some chitchat, where Hinata choose to not talk about Komaeda to avoid at any cost the telling about the last attempt, they headed towards the hotel. Since Komaeda hadn’t came back, none of them knew where he was, and to be frank Hinata didn't really want to see him right now.  
Even if he, in fact, did.  
That was weird.  
  
More puzzled than ever, he barely noticed Nanami tugging his sleeve when they arrived.  
"Look.", she softly said, "Komaeda-kun is here."  
He was standing by the pool, feet into the water, alone.  
Oh great. Now something ridiculous would happen again. Hinata wondered what it would be this time, maybe Tanaka running into him riding a cow, sending him in coma for three days, or better, a meteorite crashing just between him and Komaeda at the very moment he wanted to start talking again ? Hinata almost laughed at himself, but these thoughts had a bitter taste.

  
"We should go talk to him."  
"Why though."  
"To give you his attention!"  
Hinata sighted, he wanted to tell her it was useless by now, but he couldn't turn her down, not when she was so determined. And, well, what was another failed attempt after all?  
Nanami was already half way when he started to follow, feet as heavy as if they were chained to a ball.  
When she sat down he could see Komaeda's surprised expression, it looked like Nanami had already found something to say, but he couldn't hear them.  
When he joined them the silence befell again. He sat next to Komaeda, not saying a word either.  
The white-haired boy seemed confused by the sudden company at both of his sides.  
After some seconds of awkward silence Hinata calmly started, looking to the landscape:  
"So, how did it go with the spider?"  
Komaeda's eyes widened before quickly turning back to normal:  
"I didn't know you heard of it."  
Ah that was true, he wasn't aware of his presence at that time. Should he tell he was spying?  
"Yeah, hm, I was at the park with Nanami back then, and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Kuzuryuu."  
He wasn't lying. He wasn't telling all the details, but he wasn't lying.  
"Yup, Hinata-kun had been kind enough to let me sleep all afternoon at the park !" Nanami excitedly exhaled.  
A blank smile showed up on Komaeda's face. He chuckled:  
"How nice of you Hinata-kun."  
Hinata felt his cheeks heat up a little. Nanami’s attempts to help him were almost as ridiculous as his own attempts today.  
Komaeda continued, ignoring his previous statement:  
"And I guess it is fair that you heard him..." he looked puzzled, as if something was missing, but he kept going, "And to answer, yes, it did go well, I got the right box! How lucky of me!", his last words were accompanied by another soft laugh, looking directly at Hinata. The later couldn’t refrain a smile at this sight. Being around Komaeda could be quite relaxing.  
"Great, guess they were right to trust you with that, then." it came out a little too soft to Hinata's taste. Komaeda must have felt the same because he quickly moved his face away, and stuttered:  
"I didn't do anything."

  
Hinata did the same, swallowing. Perfect, now the things were starting to get awkward between them again.  
"Oh I almost forgot…” Nanami started, looking into the void, as if she were talking to herself. “Sonia told me they added a new game to the arcade machine in the Hotel lobby. I definitely have to try that!”. Despite her sleepy tone, Hinata could see she was actually pretty excited by what she was saying, at the point where he couldn’t tell if she was trying to give him another opportunity or not. Anyways Nanami was already standing up before he, or Komaeda could have said anything.

Maybe he could have protested, maybe he should have, but instead here he was, alone with the person he wanted the most and the least to be alone with today.

The situation was as awkward as when Nanami was here, maybe even more. But surprisingly no one made a move. They were almost pretending that they were alone but no one had run away yet.

And they stayed like this for some time, which seemed both short and long, before Komaeda broke the silence:

  
"Hinata-kun... Do I have something on my face?"  
That took Hinata off guards, if he was about to say anything, he would have never expected Komaeda to say that particularly.

"Huh? No... why?"  
"Well, it's just that you have been staring at me all day so..."  
Hinata stopped breathing.

"I thought it must have been because something was on my face." He felt his cheeks heat up.

"I even went back to my cottage once or twice to check up", Komaeda was softly chuckling. Hinata opened his mouth to answer but no words came out, his mouth was as dry as the weather.

"Oh, or is it maybe my face itself?" he was still laughing, a nervous, embarrassed little laugh.  
"That's...huh...not it." Hinata felt his jaw trembling as he spoke. His knuckles were tightly grabbing the edge of the pool, turning white.  
"What's the matter then? Do you have something to tell me...?" Komaeda was looking at the water, slowly moving, fists also tightened around the rock.  
Hinata opened his mouth, shut it, did that again, he didn't know how many times. He moved his gaze towards the water too.  
"It's... nothing."  
Komaeda softly sighted.  
"If you say so."  
Hinata bite his lips. Should he tell he wanted to spend the day with him? But then he would ask why he didn't offered that in the first place. And then he would have to explain he wanted to be invited. And Komaeda would obviously understand everything, including all the failed attempts. Hinata really wished you could actually die from embarrassment because he knew couldn't go through that. Komaeda was smart, really smart, and it was already surprising that he didn't find out yet with how clumsy Hinata was in the process. Then again, the motive was so ridiculous that he understood why the real reason of his behavior didn't even crossed his mind.  
Hinata swallowed. He deserved an explanation nonetheless. If he did the same, Hinata would expect an answer. How would he react if he learned that Komaeda had desperately tried to catch his attention all day? His heart started to beat faster that it already did at that thought. He wouldn't mind, really. Actually, he would feel kind of dumb for not noticing. But thinking about Komaeda wanting his attention was strangely thrilling.  
_Huh, you're thinking too much Hajime, pull it together._  
Even if Komaeda's reaction was positive to the truth, which he clearly doubted, he didn't have enough confidence to just "go for it", quoting Nanami.

He could be half honest. Saying he had wanted to hang out with him today but never found a right time to ask, and the excuse of "I was at the beach because Soda wanted to" would still work.  
Hinata inhaled.  
"Listen... it's just that today, I kinda wanted to hang out with y-" he was cut by a strong hand, slapping his back, making a loud noise. Next to him, while he was coughing, he saw Komaeda almost falling into the water, pushed by the same slap.  
A loud, joyful voice interrupted him before he could say anything.  
"Yo! What are you doing here?! It's dinner time! Meaning it's time to EAT! Not pool time! C’mon dudes, food is waiting for us! Alright ! I'm super hungryyyyyy..!" The voice was already getting away, half singing half shouting the last words.  
Hinata blinked. Owari had disappeared as fast as she had appeared. Bringing with her the almost calm mood between him and Komaeda.  
He turned his gaze to see how he was. Next to him, the white-haired boy was slightly bowed, and hand on his forehead with what seemed to be annoyance in his eyes, he was mumbling something that looked like "... bad luck...".  
"Are you alright?"  
Komaeda smiled, letting his annoyance go away.  
"Yes I am! You don't have to worry about me." He stood up. "Alright then, Owari-san is right, we should go eat."  
Hinata wanted to protest, but seeing him walking away, as if he were hiding his irritation, made Hinata think his sixth attempt to get Komaeda's attention was another failure.  
  
The bubble of frustration had never been this big.

 

Obviously they barely even looked at each other during the dinner, and Komaeda had locked himself up in his cottage for the rest of the day, preventing any seventh attempt.

 

* * *

  
  
That was how Hinata ended up like that: on his bed, fixing the void, letting the bubble of frustration slowly eat him up from the inside.  
Reminding himself of that awful day was only making things worse.  
Komaeda's words were echoing in his mind: "bad luck". What was that? And why was he so upset?  
He badly wanted to know but his poor understanding of the Ultimate Lucky Student wasn't helping.  
Hinata nervously rolled over hiding his face in his pillow, wanting to bite it or shout in it, literally do anything that would make the bubble go away.  
Anything he did, or tried, was making his frustration only bigger. There was no way he could sleep like that, not after that, not after today. What to do though? Take a walk wouldn't calm him down, he wasn't hungry and had nothing to do.

  
He had to be honest with himself, each time he was closing his eyes, his frustration would led back his thoughts to Komaeda. He was the source of this feeling. That must have meant he was also the remedy. Of course, he already knew that. But if just talking to him, which appeared to be impossible today, resolved anything that would have been too simple. Instead his frustration only increased Hinata's expectations towards their next conversation again and again.

  
_Next conversation, huh..._

  
Hinata remembered Nanami's words. He did try to “go for it” before but it didn't work. Or was it because he wasn't straightforward enough? No, something would happen before they even started about talking about it.  
Then what? No matter what he couldn't just stay here. He had to do something, anything.

  
Hinata didn't really know what pushed him to put on his shoes and exist his cottage. Maybe being lost in thoughts helped, maybe the frustration was responsible. But before he even knew, he was standing in front of Komaeda's door.  
Hinata slightly bit his lips wondering if he should, while he could, back down.  
It wasn't that late so Komaeda was probably not asleep but that would still be a moment where anyone would prefer to be alone right?

  
His reason was telling him to go away but literally every other part of his body and mind were telling to knock at this door. The choice was barely one at this point.  
He didn't hear any sound before the door opened in front of him, revealing a half dressed Komaeda. Hinata probably would have minded if his mind was clear and relaxed, but not now, not after today.  
Before him, the pair of grey-green eyes widened:  
"Hinata-kun? What are you doing here this late?"  
Of course he was surprised.  
Hinata tried his best to not sound upset or irritated because he didn't wanted to give the wrong impression that he was annoyed because of Komaeda, even if he was upset and irritated.  
"I... huh... have something to tell you, can I come in?"  
Komaeda looked back in his cottage, wearing an uneasy smile.  
"Ah, unfortunately my room isn't very clean, I think it would be a bother to..."  
"I don't mind." he wasn't patient enough to play this game right now.  
Komaeda made a face. But then opened the door, letting Hinata come in.  
  
To be honest Hinata had never seen a cottage cleaner before.  
"Is that your definition of a mess?", he wanted to ask, but he wasn't here to waste his time talking about cleaning.  
Oh that's right. What was he here for again? He had told Komaeda he wanted to talk, sure, but about what? Today? And just tell him everything? He laughed at himself for having made the most likely worst decision of his day: coming here without having anything to say.  
Komaeda was sitting on his bed, looking at him as if he was unsure about what to think about all of this.  
Hinata didn't really know how many time they spent looking at each other in the middle a suffocating tension.  
"Are you here because you wanted to finish the conversation we started earlier?" Komaeda started, making the mood light up a little.  
Hinata eyes widened. Yeah, that was a good idea.  
"Y-yep that's it."  
"Oh, my bad then, I thought you didn't want to, so..."  
Hinata waved his hands coming a little closer to the bed:  
"No, no that's fine. It's just... you know, a lot happened today.", a tired laugh came out of its own.  
The only answer he got was a curious look coming from Komaeda. He had his mouth slightly opened, as if he wanted to say something, but was afraid of breaking that fragile confession Hinata had begun.  
Hinata passed a hand through his hairs, closing his eyes.  
"Ah... that's funny.” He inhaled, "It just seemed that each time I wanted to talk to you today something happened."  
He bit his lips. That was bad, that wasn't what he had planned to say.  
Komaeda's eyes widened but he didn't say a word.  
The exhaustion was taking over Hinata's body, merging with his emotions. From experience, he knew that wasn't a good mix. He started to tremble.  
"During breakfast, this morning, Kuzuryuu this afternoon, and Owari, damn, even at lunch.", he was laughing again, this time most out of pity for himself than anything else.  
He looked back at Komaeda.  
"I wanted to spend this time with you, you know..?" his voice cracked at the end.  
Why was he telling all that? What was he hoping for? Hinata's grip around his hair tightened.  
Next to him, Komaeda was silent.  
Hinata didn't feel very well, but it was nothing compared to how Komaeda looked. His fists were clenched into his sheets, he was looking into the void, showing nothing but confusion, as if he was retracing the day. His expression was dark, focused.  
After some time, his eyes widened, he had figured everything out.  
  
Suddenly, he started to laugh. A laugh filled with bitterness and guilt, that Hinata knew all too well since he was on this island.  
"I'm so sorry Hinata-kun."  
Hinata didn't even take time to answer, he knew what he was about to say, instead, he locked his eyes into his with a defying look.  
Komaeda didn't care, he stood up either way.  
"This is obviously my fault, right? You had to encounter my bad luck each moment of your day... That preventing you from just getting close to me..."  
He shut his mouth all of the sudden, looking as if he were about to collapse more lost than ever.  
"Why didn't you give up?" he was whispering.  
Hinata opened his mouth but was cut short.  
"Why did you keep trying, even though my luck was stopping you? This is obviously a sign that shows nothing good will come out by you spending your precious time with me..."

  
That was bad. That was not how he wanted this conversation to turn out.  
Hinata went closer, close enough to wrap Komaeda's cheeks with his hands, forcing him to look at him. It wasn't really meant to be an affectionate gesture, the purpose was mostly to steady Komaeda, but it still felt weird to hold him like this. At any other time he probably wouldn't have done that, but being alone with him, at night, while he was so exhausted probably had pushed him more than expected.  
"No, you are wrong." He felt the other boy shiver. He was about to say something, but he continued:  
"I kept trying because I wanted to. I wanted to spend this day with you." he exhaled shakily. "I know that sometimes things don't end up as we would like, when we are hanging out, I mean. Sometimes, one of us just run away... But I know, for sure, I'm positive, that good can come out of this."  
He took another pause. "Look, just the fact that... I wanted that means that I like it, see? So, good does come out of this."  
Komaeda was only looking, he seemed so fragile into Hinata's hands, that he thought he would break if he let go.  
"One more thing. Your luck has nothing to do with that, okay? I mean, you could say that I was rather unlucky today. But this is my fault, for not coming directly at you."  
The pair of grey eyes before him grew wider at this statement.

  
"Hinata-kun... why didn't you ask me out like you always do...?" he breathed out.  
Hinata took one step back, feeling his cheeks heat up.  
"A-ah... hum..."  
Komaeda looked down, eyes focused, he spoke again, for himself.  
"Instead of asking me if I were free this morning you asked what I was about to do, and if I would like company for that activity... That's kind of an unusual way to phrase it for Hinata-kun, I thought I was just imagining things.” This time it was Komaeda’s turn to swallow. “But then... why..?"

  
Komaeda was almost out of breath, but in a... good way? He was relaxed at least. Hinata made a mental note that holding Komaeda and making him focus on something was a way to calm him down.  
When he stepped out of his thoughts he was greeted by grey-green eyes, sparkling with curiosity.  
"I don't get it, Hinata-kun." his tone was suddenly confidant, full of an unknown resolve.  
Something hard like a rope started tearing Hinata’s heart apart.

  
He sighed, moving his hands away. Alright, he guessed it was time to _go for it_.  
"I'll tell you. But... please don't laugh at me." he started to look away. Komaeda's TV was suddenly really interesting. His face felt hot but he didn't even minded anymore.  
"Why would I laugh..?"  
"Please." he closed his eyes, bringing one hand to his head, to appease the tight frown on his forehead.  
"I won't."  
"Okay.” He paused.

"To be honest, I wanted to hang out with you. But... and I don't really understand why, I wanted you to invite me out instead of doing the opposite like always." Hinata was dryly moving his hands while speaking, looking away, to make his words as factual and neutral as possible.  
Okay. That was it. That was said. Now he just needed to face Komaeda's reaction, maybe snorting, confused, or hell maybe he was even crying right now.  
He swallowed, slowly moving his gaze to look at Komaeda.  
The other boy was looking at him, mouth slightly opened, for the -he didn't even know anymore-th time today. He looked dumbfounded. Of course, Hinata couldn't blame him after all. The reason itself was enough to make everyone on this island, including Monomi, fall on their knees out of laugher. At least he was keeping his promise, for now.

  
"W-well." Hinata rubbed the back of his neck, ugh, he was sweating.  
"Now that the truth is told, I have nothing to do here anymore... so I'll be leaving...", he was saying that cautiously, "ready" to face any reaction positive, or not.  
Komaeda barely moved.  
Hinata coughed.  
"Are you okay..?"  
The other boy brought one hand to his mouth, eyes widening, he started shaking violently.  
"You... wanted... me... to invite you..?"  
Hinata knew what was about to happen were a possibility, frankly, he thought that bursting out of laughter would have been better. Panicking, of course, he should have seen that coming, Hinata had to do something while he could. It was his fault Komaeda was like this, so he had to help him.

  
He wrapped Komaeda's shoulders with his arm, sitting on the bed, entraining the other boy with him.  
Sitting was the first step, if he was panicking really bad, his legs may wouldn't support his weigh, as little as it may be, anymore.  
He rubbed his back with a gentle hand.  
"That's fine, really, I was selfish for wanting that, that was a stupid reason for not asking. I'm sorry." his voice was low, and calm, warm, even, this way, maybe Komaeda would relax a little.  
Next to him, Komaeda was still shaking.  
He looked like he wanted to say so many things, but nothing would come out. That view tightened the rope around Hinata's heart again, this time, painfully.  
He wanted to tell him that was not his fault, that he was responsible, that he knew he wouldn't ask because of so many things, but he also knew he wouldn't listen. Maybe worse, he would panic even more.  
So, he chose silence, he pushed his hand further, until it reached his arm, so that they were partially hugging, still moving it in comforting motions, slightly smiling.  
This should be fine, not too close to make him panic more, but enough to let him now he was there, and sorry.  
They stayed like this for some time, Hinata didn't care how long.  
At some point Komaeda had stopped shaking and had let his head rest against his shoulder, working on steadying his breath.

  
Good, things were starting to get better. Komaeda was almost calm, he didn't seem to feel too guilty about that, maybe confused, but he didn't lynch himself like most of the time, and he had accepted the contact, which was pretty surprising given that they had never shown any kind of physical closeness before.  
Hinata didn't want to talk right now, too afraid of breaking everything. He closed his eyes. Both of them being relaxed like that made him want to sleep.  
  
He slowly opened his eyes, holding in a yawn when a soft voice was heard.  
"Hinata-kun..?"  
"What is it?"  
"I'm sorry..."  
"... For what?" he started rubbing his arm again, unconsciously.  
"For having you help me like this. Forcing you to stay close to me... ah... truly despicable."  
"...You didn't force me to do anything. I told you right? I'm here because I wanted to."  
He felt the other tense up against him.  
"You came here because you had something to tell me."  
Hinata swallowed.  
"Weeeell, we are kind of hanging out right now, no? So that's what I wanted...?"  
Komaeda moved away, clenching his fists against his knees.  
Hinata was somehow a little disappointed he had moved away, but seeing his knees, exposed, reminded him of how close he had been to someone who was barely wearing anything. He almost coughed, but managed to hold it back, blood rushing to his head.  
He let go without any resistance, Komaeda probably needed space to register everything.  
Some time passed without anyone saying a word.

  
  
"Why are you still here ?"  
"You don't want me here ?" Hinata was looking at the ceiling, his mind a little absent.  
"You said you were leaving."  
"I wanted to make sure you were okay."  
"I am."  
"So you don't want me here." he almost replied. But, this answer would probably create a chaotic outcome. So, he bit his lips, hoping it wouldn't be too obvious.  
Even if Komaeda had calmed down, it still felt weird. In the end, Hinata never knew how he really felt about all this. He had better leave, that was for sure, but somehow, he wanted to stay, even if things weren't going for the best, he liked being there.  
He wanted to ask so many things, but couldn't, that was frustrating.  
"Why aren't you leaving...?"  
"I... kind of want to stay with you, right now...? If that's okay...?"  
That probably wasn't.  
Komaeda tensed up again but did nothing.  
  
"It's late you know, if others knew you were here they would ask questions."  
"Hmm, that's fine, I can make something up."  
"Still, you should get some rest while you can, not all days are this peaceful here."  
"I guess you've got a point, but I doubt I would be able to sleep just like this after today."

  
They both paused before Komaeda spoke again:  
"... I'm sorry."  
"Hey... I told you, this is not your fault." Hinata almost wanted to sight but he figured he wasn’t in position to do so.  
"How would encountering so much bad luck wouldn't be my fault...?"  
Hinata turned a little to face the other boy properly : "Look, I'm the only one to blame here."  
He inhaled, he had to be more specific to convince him.  
"When you went with Kuzuryuu, I could just have waited a little and then looked for you right ? But I weakly fell asleep."  
"Or when Owari disturbed us, I could have done anything to stop you from going away."  
Hinata stopped.  
"And... this morning, at the beach..."  
"When you were with Soda-kun..?"  
Hinata eyes briefly widened.  
"...Oh, so you did notice." he had let that out without his own accord.  
The white-haired boy almost smiled : "Of course, how wouldn't I..."  
"Ugh, sorry if we disturbed you..." Hinata quickly looked away.  
"Well, when I was there I could have just, go talk to you, you know, but I didn't."  
Then the silence followed.  
Komaeda was fixing him, thinking.  
  
"Hinata-kun... Forgive me if I'm wrong but... is it possible that you tried to catch my attention all day long...?"  
  
Hinata made a strangled noise, quickly bringing his hand to his mouth...  
"...What..?"  
Komaeda moved closer, a serious look on his face.  
"You said you didn't come to talk to me, but you were there, and you knew I would be too. You obviously had no intention of talking to me from the very beginning right...? So why were you there...?"  
Hinata looked away, he was starting to sweat.  
"S-Soda wanted to go to the beach s-so..." his voice was cracking.  
"Both of us being at the park in the afternoon..."  
"I... followed Nanami there...". His breath deepened, he wasn't lying for this one...  
"Nanami-san specifically pointing out how nice you were with her today while I was here..." he brought his hand to his chin, like he always did. "Oh wait... maybe I am overthinking this one..."  
  
How was Hinata supposed to admit he wasn't overthinking anything right now. All of his guesses were correct. All of them. It reminded Hinata how good this guy was at solving mysteries. Of course he would figure it out at some point.  
"But there is also the fact that you are here right now..."  
Hinata quickly rose his face : "H-how does that prove anything...?!"  
Hinata's face was hot, but at least he had enough strength to look at Komaeda in the eyes, with his defying look.  
"If... you didn't want to get my attention, you would have just... waited for another moment to talk to me about all of this right...? You wouldn't have felt the need to come all this way just to tell me you wanted to spend the day with me... And what a better way to get someone else's attention than going into their room at night?" he was wearing a carefree smile.

  
When his logic managed to overcome his feelings, he was truly frightening.  
Hinata looked away again, frowning : "I-it does make sense. B-but that doesn't mean it was obviously the case..."  
"Oh !" Komaeda almost clapped his hands together in excitement.  
"I recognize the Ultimate Tsuntsun Hair right now!" he was starting to laugh before his face was covered by a pillow.  
"S-shut up, I'm not "Ultimate Tsuntsun Hair" or whatever..!"  
The pillow had been thrown lightly, almost playfully, it didn't hurt at all.  
Komaeda laughed a bit more:  
"Hey, no need to resort to violence!"  
Hinata didn't want to, but cracked an amused smile. Seeing Komaeda genuinely laughing was almost new, it was heartwarming.  
The white-haired boy took the pillow and put it back in place.  
"Okay, I get that you wanted my attention. But I'm curious, you mentioned something about lunch, right? What was that?"  
Hinata ignored the first statement.  
"Hmm, you were so caught up in your book I thought you wouldn't notice it was lunch time. So, I figured I could wait a bit and bring some food with me, so we could eat at the beach."  
He wanted that to sound neutral, really, but he realized all too late how cheesy it was. It almost looked like he was preparing a _date_. Suddenly Hinata remembered what Nanami had said about dating sims, he was starting to feel sick.  
Komaeda looked down, cheeks pinkening.  
"Oh... that's very thoughtful of Hinata-kun."

_…_ _What_ _…_ _?_  
Hinata's fist clenched around the sheets, a node forming in his throat. What was this reaction...?  
He blinked : "Uh... don't mention it."  
The Lucky boy didn’t really seem to listen and continued anyway : "How unlucky of me to have come back at the restaurant..." he was whispering, slightly smiling.  
Hinata heartbeat slowed down. He vaguely fantasied about how nice it would have been to eat at the beach.  
Komaeda rose his head, and let one and hand delicately rest on Hinata's chest. The touch was burning.    
"Such bad luck... I wonder what kind of good outcome will come from this..." his smile widened, his gaze darkened.  
Ah, he was starting to ramble about his luck again. But Hinata let him, still half lost in his fantasies, half dazzled by the effect of the contact on his torso, eyes focused on the boy in front of him. He wasn't even hearing himself breath anymore.  
The hand slowly turned into a fist, clenching Hinata's shirt and tie with it. Time started to slow down. Komaeda was getting closer. And Hinata was letting him.  
"For you... wanting to catch the attention of someone like me... all day... I'm truly not worthy of that Hinata-kun...", his voice was shaky.  
Hinata never moved, not even after feeling arms wrapping around his waist and a forehead resting on his shoulder.  
  
Soon he found out that his hand was on the lower back of the other boy.  
He could feel his breath, deep, yet calm. Hinata’s eyes were starting to close themselves, his breath to match with the one of the body next to him.  
"What are you doing?" he exhaled, eyes utterly closed now. There was no harm in his words, it was a genuine question.  
"Pushing my luck.", he was answered, a murmure, barely audible.  
He tightened his grip to bring Komaeda closer, hiding his head into the crook of his neck. He smelled something familiar, delicate, something between a floral scent and something dryer, maybe even burnt. It was nice. Relaxing. Hinata tried not to inhale too deeply. Komaeda must have already taken a shower, his hair was still a little wet, and his skin cool.  
That was weird. Like really weird. But it felt good.  
Soon his other hand joined the first one, to circle Komaeda's hips, bringing him even closer in the process. Hinata vaguely heard the other boy make a noise but he was too at ease to care.  
  
They stayed like this for a while, Hinata struggling not fall asleep because, if his position was comfortable, Komaeda's surely wasn't, and he didn't want to let him carry the burden of he asleep, knowing that Komaeda would probably not disturb his rest.

At some point the other boy moved away, not too far to be unreachable, but enough to not let their heads touch.  
"You didn't push me away." He stated.  
Seeing that Hinata wasn't answering he added, frowning:  
"Why?"  
He took some time to answer.  
"That's... I don't know..."  
Komaeda didn’t moved at first, showed no reaction, but after few seconds a brief smile appeared on his face, tainted with something Hinata didn't like, something like sadness. He was starting to free himself from Hinata's grasp so he held him more firmly. He didn’t want to end this that way.  
"I guess... I liked it..?" his voice was soft.  
The other's eyes widened.  
"What? You did?"  
Hinata coughed.  
"Y-yeah, it was relaxing...", _and you smell good_.

No, no, no, he wasn't finishing the sentence.  
He swallowed.  
Now that he was well awake again he realized how thin the other boy was under his grasp, he was almost bony. That made him look even more as if he could fall apart any moment.  
"My body must be very disgusting to you..." it was accompanied with another chuckle, one mixed with what seemed to be shame.  
Ah. He had been staring for too long, and he had noticed it.  
"T-that's not what I was thinking." He paused. "You know, maybe you should eat more." Hinata let his hand rest on the other’s hipbone, as if to prove his point.  
"Are you concerned ?"

  
Hinata was so focused looking at the dug curves in front of him that he didn't really noticed he had rose the other hand to put it on the other's cheek.  
When he looked back into his eyes he almost shoved it away, and honestly, he didn't know what stopped him from doing so.  
The weigh on his hand became heavier when Komaeda titled his head with an interrogative look on his face.  
Hinata blinked.  
"Yes. Yes I'm concerned."  
He felt his hand getting warmer, matching with the red on the white-haired boy's face.  
"You shouldn't waste your time with a trash like me Hinata-kun."  
Hinata let his hand slid towards the back of his neck, leaving his cheek. “You’re not a trash.”  
His gaze was focused, intense, drowning into the green-grey eyes. He didn't even know when he became this serious.

  
But he noticed.  
He realized.  
Maybe really late but...  
He finally had it, what he had been craving for all day. Komaeda's attention. Komaeda's whole attention. All for himself. And nothing, no one else.  
His body felt electrified, his cheeks heating up from the excitement. All the frustration in his body had been replaced by an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction.

  
As if his body was moving on its own, he leaned closer.

  
"Hinata-kun..." Komaeda was breathing heavily.  
"What are you doing?" His voice was soft, softer than he ever heard.  
"Pushing my luck." came out a breath. Before Komaeda could answer anything, he sealed their lips together, pressing gently, but strongly enough for the other boy to only being able to make a muffed sound a response. Instinctively, Komaeda titled is head, slightly opening his mouth, to make more room to deepen the kiss. Hinata's mind probably had stopped working by now, so he felt no guilt or remorse answering the invitation, letting his tongue brush the other's lips. Everything around him started to heat up, slowly, intensely, until the last parts of his mind shut down, until he couldn't tell who was the origin of this feverish dance between their tongues. He couldn't even tell when they parted to catch their breath.  
He blinked before liking his swollen lips. They were both looking into each other's eyes, forehead locked, panting.  
  
"Wow." Hinata breathed out.  
"Is that what you meant by 'wanting to hang out'?" Komaeda showed no expression, but some amusement could be heard in his voice.  
Hinata rolled his eyes.  
"Yeah, not really."  
  
They stared at each other for a long time. Too long, Hinata figured, when he noticed Komaeda was slightly biting his bottom lip. He tightened the grip around his neck to pull him closer and started to kiss him again. At first, tender and gentle, almost to make sure everything was real, but soon enough, the kiss deepened.  
_The kiss._  
He was kissing Komaeda.  
They were both kissing each other. They were both participating, Hinata entraining Komaeda always closer, Komaeda bringing his hands to the sides of the brown-haired boy's neck, titling his head.  
And they were both liking it.  
Hinata let his hands wander a little, sliding his left hand under Komaeda's shirt, feeling his skin, his curves, his bones, while his right hand was getting higher up, curling some hair with it, each movement earning little pleased breathes from the Komaeda.

  
The heat wasn't just around them anymore, it was starting to build up into his stomach too, blooming and radiating everywhere in his body, until Hinata could barely breath anymore.  
Komaeda's skin was smooth, soft under his touch, cool but still warm, so stimulating that some part of his mind was begging him to keep touching it.  
His own skin was tingling everywhere the contact was made.

  
This time Komaeda stopped the kiss by himself wrapping Hinata's cheeks with both hands, straightening up his posture to look down to him. He took some time to steady his breath. This time, free of any constraint, allowed Hinata to satisfy some of his curiosity. He slowly rose his left hand, reaching the middle of Komaeda's back, barely touching his skin with his fingerprints, partially removing his shirt in the process. His eyes were focused into the other's, to avoid showing the satisfaction and pride that were eating him up as he felt him shiver under his touch. He bit the inside of his mouth to prevent any grin to show up on his face.  
  
When Komaeda calmed down he let out a little smirk, which seemed to echo directly into Hinata's chest, as if he were impaled by a spear.  
"Hey, Hinata-kun-" his voice was throaty.  
"Hmm." he could barely answer. The excitation that was running through his body, making his fingers shake, it was blurring his mind.  
The smile widened.  
At first Hinata thought he would continue, but instead Komaeda bowed down until his lips were almost touching his ear. Hinata closed his eyes trying to keep his demeanor while feeling the breath next to the sensitive spot.  
He felt Komaeda whisper directly into his ear spreading goosebumps all over his body :  
"Wanna hang out ?"  
  
It seemed to him as if his whole body had been absorbed into those words. Everything in his body had stopped working or was working faster than ever.  
He put his hands on Komaeda's hips, bringing him down until he hit the mattress, earning a surprised gasp.  
Hinata looked at him, even if he had made that noise, he didn't look shocked or stunned by Hinata's actions at all. On the contrary he seemed more satisfied than ever. His eyes were dark, but shining with malice, daring. Knowing he was completely following Komaeda's plans was a little annoying, but it was quickly shoved away by the playful expression Komaeda was wearing. Hinata couldn't help but toothily grin in return.  
"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to ask."  
Komaeda's smile widened once again, but this time more out of amusement and what seemed to be fondness. Whatever it was, Hinata could tell he was genuinely enjoying what was happening, and that that thought was enough to let a warm feeling spread into his chest, paradoxically both relaxing and stimulating. Knowing that Komaeda was truthfully liking this closeness with someone, with him, made Hinata's smile grew wider too. It almost felt like he had achieved something no one was able to do, beyond that, something that made them both happy. His hands started to shake in expectation. He would not screw this up now.

  
While he was lost in thoughts, some arms had wrapped themselves around his shoulders, bringing him down, soon he was facing Komaeda, noses almost touching.  
Hinata couldn't help but giggle a little, the satisfaction of having his frustration fly away, the new closeness he shared with Komaeda, and the cheerful mood made him more delighted than they should, but he didn't really care anymore at this point. He pressed his lips against the other pair, stealing a chaste kiss. The grip around his shoulders tightened and Komaeda started to respond, offering him to not let the kiss end just now. By obligation, or that was what he told himself even if he didn't believe it, he accepted the offer.

  
They kissed for a while, sometimes mixing pieces of conversation through their action. To his surprise, none of them had broken the mood by starting to talk about something unnecessary, Hinata figured it was because they were both too tired to take the time to think about something consistent to say.  
At some point it became less feverish and more tender, softer, merged with confused giggles, until they eventually parted way. Not because they wanted to but Hinata's back was starting to hurt for staying to long on top of Komaeda. So, he stood up and stretch his body before letting out a yawn. Komaeda had let his arm fall into the mattress while looking at him, expression neutral again, as if nothing had happened.

Somehow Hinata wondered if Komaeda was thinking them parting meant everything was over now. He didn't really want to make him feel that.  
True that Hinata would probably wake up next morning cursing every part of himself for what he did asking himself why, just why he did that. He wasn't supposed to _hug_ Komaeda, let alone _kiss_ him, and more than once, and push him into the mattress. Hinata felt his face heat up. Now that their little "moment" was over he could tell how embarrassing this whole thing was. Why did he do that ? Wasn't he just supposed to make sure Komaeda wasn't panicking? He just... lost it there.  
He started to frown. He would have to think about that... but, later. For now, he was too exhausted to organize his thoughts and he wanted to stay like this, covered by this joyful warm mood, a little longer.  
  
"Hey. If we are hanging out, that means I can stay over tonight, right?"  
Komaeda stopped fixing the ceiling to look at him :  
"You want to ?"  
Hinata almost let himself fall into the mattress, suddenly realizing how tired every part of his body and mind were.  
"I didn't bring my pillow though... Well, I don't really need one..."  
Being relaxed on a bed (compared to how tense he was back when he was in his cottage) was so satisfying Hinata almost hid his face into the sheets, but given it wasn't his bed, he figured he'd better not get too comfortable, even after what happened.  
Komaeda stood up a little, resting on his elbows.  
"I can lend you mine... If you are okay with the idea of sleeping on something I regularly use..."  
Hinata looked at him.  
"That sentence was totally weird."  
"Was it?", he nervously laughed.  
"You don't have to lend me your pillow you know."  
Komaeda looked uncomfortable.

  
"We can share it if you are fine with that?" Hinata added, hoping to make him feel better.  
"Would you be okay with that?"  
Hinata shrugged his shoulders.  
"Sure."  
Komaeda sat down and put the pillow at the center of the bed.  
"Okay. That's done."  
He could hear some hesitation in his voice. That was understandable, seeing him do that made Hinata's heartbeat faster. He coughed.  
"G-good. Let's sleep then."  
No one moved.

  
"... Komaeda..?"  
The white-haired boy tensed up.  
"O-Oh yeah, let's do that."  
  
Komaeda slowly let himself fell into the mattress, putting lightly his head on the very edge of the pillow, he was nervous.  
Hinata sighted.  
"Komaeda."  
"Yes, Hinata-kun?"  
"Just get comfortable."  
He lowered his gaze before fainting to move a little, to pretend he was fine, while actually not moving at all.  
Hinata barely held in another sight. Instead of arguing with him, he chose to do things himself. Hinata followed Komaeda, facing him, letting his head comfortably rest on the pillow. Once he steadied his posture he put an arm over Komaeda's torso. Ignoring the surprised noise, this one probably genuine, Hinata pulled him closer, allowing Komaeda to rest normally on the pillow.  
"H-Hinata-kun." he mumbled.  
"It's fine, just get comfortable already."  
Komaeda blinked, once, twice. His face was red and his hands clenching the sheets. But eventually, he gave in. He turned around to face Hinata and rose his hand before stopping dead.  
He moved his gaze away after a short moment.  
"... Can I...?"  
Hinata looked at him unimpressed despite his heart beating loud inside his chest.  
"I told you. Get comfortable."  
Komaeda quickly nodded before letting his arm rest around Hinata. Weirdly enough, Komaeda seemed more flushed by hugging rather than kissing.

That was... cute.  
Hinata held a smile, and wrapped the boy with his arm, pulling him a little closer until his face was almost touching his chest. He ignored once again the strangled noise coming from below, closing his eyes.  
  
Today definitely had been weird, Hinata told himself, and with everything that had happened, tomorrow probably would be too. He would have to sneak out of Komaeda's cottage without being found out, to find an excuse if he was caught, to explain to Nanami what happened, to face Komaeda after all this...  
But for now, he was feeling great, relaxed. Despite the heat on this tropical island, sleeping next to someone was quite a refreshing experience, something new to him. He could feel Komaeda still tensed up under his arm, but he was getting more relaxed each second passing.

"Goodnight." he breathed out.

"Goodnight Hinata-kun..."

 

  
Soon, they both gave into sleep.

 

 


End file.
